Langen, Hesse

The earliest community here may have arisen about AD 500 or 600, settled by Frankish migrants. Langen had its first documentary mention in 834 in a donation document from King Ludwig II to the Lorsch Abbey under the name Langungon. In 835, he had the extent of the Mark Langen (a communal area shared by a number of villages) delineated with Drieichlahha, today's Dreieich, as a neighbouring community to the north. To the Dreieich Royal Hunting Forest (Wildbann Dreieich), which in the king's name was governed by the Lords of Hagen (later of Münzenberg) as Vögte, also belonged in the Middle Ages the woodlands around Langen. Two of the Royal Hunting Forest's 30 Wildhuben (farming estates whose owners were charged with guarding the king's hunting rights) lay in Langen. Since the Lorsch Abbey hardly worried very much about their landholdings, the Lords of Hagen-Münzenberg came over the course of time to be the land's effective owners.

When the Hagen-Münzenberg family died out in 1255, the place passed to the Lords of Falkenstein. In 1414, the village burnt down in the midst of a dispute between the city of Frankfurt and the then owners of Langen, the Archbishop of Trier, Werner von Falkenstein. When the Lords of Falkenstein, too, saw their male line come to an end in 1418, the County of Isenburg inherited the lordship over Langen. Surviving from the Middle Ages are, among other things remains of the fortifications with the spitzer Turm and the stumpfer Turm ("Sharp Tower" and "Blunt Tower") from Falkenstein times (1336), and from the Renaissance the Vierröhrenbrunnen ("Four-Pipe Spring") from 1553.

In 1600, Langen, along with the whole Amt of Kelsterbach was sold by the Counts of Isenburg to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. Langen has belonged to Hesse since then. With the partitioning of the Länger Mark in 1732, whose main estate Langen was, the community got two thirds of the land, and Egelsbach the other third.

In 1812, Langen was raised to market community. After the French period, in 1821, Langen was raised to seat of the Landratsbezirk, practically making Langen a district seat, although in 1832 it had to yield this function to Groß-Gerau and Offenbach. In 1834, Langen had 2,368 inhabitants. In 1846, the Main-Neckar Railway (88 km) was opened with a railway station in Langen. In 1862, the Offenbach district was formed. In 1883, the community was granted town rights by Grand Duke Ludwig IV.

After the First World War, Langen was – as part of the Mainz bridgehead – occupied by French troops until 1930 (→ Occupation of the Rhineland). Around 1959, a new urban district, Oberlinden, was built. The population rose from 9,077 in 1939 to 28,500 in 1983.

The town's mayor is Jan Werner (independent). The first councillor is Stefan Löbig (Green Party).

At the direct election for mayor on 27 January 2008, none of the seven candidates could secure the needed majority, and so on 10 February 2008, a runoff election was held between Frieder Gebhardt (SPD) and Berthold Matyschok (CDU). This was won by Gebhardt with 63.98% of the vote. Matyschok had only barely edged out the independent candidate Dr. Jan Werner (then also a CDU member) in the first round of voting. Frieder Gebhardt took office on 30 June 2008, succeeding his fellow party member Dieter Pitthan. His time in office is to run from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2020 (re-election 2014). Pitthan, after 18 years in office, was named an honorary citizen. This makes Gebhardt, after Johannes Steitz (1946-1948), Wilhelm Umbach (1948-1966), Hans Kreiling (1966-1990) and Dieter Pitthan (1990-2008) Langen's fifth elected SPD mayor since the Second World War. In October 1945, Christian Zellhöfer (likewise SPD) was appointed mayor for a short time.

The Old Town Hall in Langen, today used as a museum

The New Town Hall in Langen

Well known outside the town is above all the Langen Ebbelwoi-Fest, to which tens of thousands of visitors come each year on the last weekend in June. Moreover, the Langener Waldsee, a favourite outing destination among dwellers of the nearby Main agglomeration, is within town limits. Since 2002, the swimming competition Ironman Germany (so called even in German) has been held there.

The town museum is found at the Old Town Hall in the Old Town. However, it opens only for special exhibitions, such as the one between May 2008 and March 2009 for the show Blick(e) zurück ("Looking Back") for the 125-year jubilee of town rights.

On the town's outskirts is found the former hunting palace of Schloß Wolfsgarten, which is owned by the House of Hesse.

Quite a few orchestras and musical groups frame Langen's cultural makeup. Among the most important are the Langen Orchestra Club and the TV 1862 Langen's (sport club) wind orchestra. Both groups furnish accompaniment to many of Langen's public events.

Langen's most successful sport team are the TV 1862 Langen's basketball players, who are represented in Pro A, Germany's second highest playing class. Home games are played at the Georg-Sehring-Halle.

Langen is twinned with:[7]

• Aranda de Duero, Spain
• Long Eaton, England, United Kingdom
• Romorantin-Lanthenay, France
• Tarsus, Turkey

• Willi Leininger (1907–1971), composer, music writer and journalist
• Friedrich Zängerle (1911–1996), trade unionist
• Rudi Sehring (born 1930), jazz drummer
• Henning Boëtius (born 1939), writer
• Tanja Börzel (born 1970), political scientist and university lecturer
• Jan Costin Wagner (born 1972), writer
• Meike Babel (born 1974), tennis player
• Carsten Nulle (born 1975), footballer
• Janine Wissler (born 1981), politician (Die Linke), member of the Hesse Landtag
• Ralf Schneider (born 1986), footballer
• Jennifer Hof (born 1991), model and winner of the third season of Germany's Next Top Model

• Leisure and family pool with adjoining rollerskating park
• Indoor swimming pool with warm bathing days
• Langener Waldsee (lake) with a naturism area and an angling area
• Youth centre with concerts and other activities
• Paddling pond with playground and much more

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Langen (Hessen).

• Langen travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Official website (in German)
• Langen Science Prize (Langener Wissenschaftspreis) (in German)
• Langen at Curlie (in German)